


i’ve got a million songs to sing, won’t you sing them with me?

by orphan_account



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 16:01:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13955058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: rly gross fluff about dan and phil featuring really cute songs and a bit too unrealistic of a happy ending





	i’ve got a million songs to sing, won’t you sing them with me?

Dan Howell was about the least talented person who could ever walk this earth.

Really, it’s true! He was mediocre at his classes, average (at best) with friendships, he looked so boring and he wasn’t the most athletic, intelligent, kind or creative person you could ever meet. He didn’t have a lot going for him at the moment, and while it was quite sad, that was just...Dan’s life.

It had been that way for as long as the young boy could remember. Average Dan doing average things. Not winning awards, or competing on sports teams, or excelling at classes. Just...going to school, coming home, doing work, going to sleep. Maybe sometimes slipping in a piano session, but that wasn’t anything Dan would ever admit to.

That is, until Phil Lester came around.

He was eighteen. A bit older than Dan at just sixteen, sure, but Dan was so convinced he was properly in love with Phil. How’d he know? Well, he always got those (yes, /those/) happy feelings in his tummy when he noticed Phil had messaged him and sometimes the way Phil looked at him while they were Skyping made Dan want to melt. And Phil was always so happy and always encouraged him, and they were polar opposites but they went so well together. Even their names spoken together had a ring to it. Dan and Phil. Dan got shivers just thinking about it.

Phil, as far as he knew, didn’t think Dan did anything too special, as bad as it sounded. The first time Dan played piano for Phil wasn’t entirely an accident. It was over the Christmas break of 2009, nobody was home, and although Phil loved it in the bottom of his heart (and had no problem expressing it, either), Dan didn’t really want to do it again. It surprised Phil that he actually knew how to do something so beautiful like this, even though he thought he was bad at it. He was just messing around with some chords because he always Skyped while sitting at the bench at his piano and he’d gotten fidgety and bored. Regardless, Phil shouldn’t have to suffer through his awful playing.

But that’s not how Phil saw it in the least. The first time Dan played for Phil, Phil’s heart skipped beats. He could vaguely remember sitting on his bed, wide-eyed and a dropped jaw in front of his webcam. It was /incredible/, even if it wasn’t amazing playing, because he knew Dan was passionate about very little things (that he was expressive about, at least) and Phil could just /see/ that this...this was Dan’s /thing/. This was what made him happy.

He loved Dan a lot. Like, /a lot/. He was intelligent and funny and supportive and always said the right thing but he just always lacked something that Phil could never put his finger on. For example, Phil would ask, ‘what do you like to do?’ and Dan would shrug his shoulders, all, ‘I don’t know. Random stuff, I guess. Hey, did you hear the top Billboards song yet? It’s so good.’ He was a good topic changer, at the very least.

Maybe that’s why Phil was so impressed by it. It wasn’t even that /fancy/ of a song, some old Hedley one or another, but it was just so gorgeous. He didn’t know why Dan bothered to keep his passion to himself. At any rate, God, Phil was desperate to hear it again. He needed to learn more about this piano endeavour.

“So, you really don’t do anything besides classes? I find that sort of surprising. Someone as talented as you has got to do something else? Do you play an instrument or do art or anything?”

Dan shrugged and laughed quietly, “I guess I play piano a bit. I was inspired by, wait for it, /Arthur the aardvark/ when I was young so I started. My piano teacher was shit though, so I quit. I’m not very good anymore though, honestly.”

“I’m sure you’re amazing! You could play for me sometime, pretty please?”

And the rest was sort of history.   
—  
‘AmazingPhil: you should skype me! i’m bored tonight :[’

Dan gave a hint of a laugh to Phil’s message alongside the upset emoticon, sending back a thumbs up and opening Skype. He clicked the top message feed (because honestly, when wasn’t Phil’s conversation right at the very top?) and tapped out a short message letting Phil know he’d be calling in a few minutes — he probably looked like he’d gotten run over by a damn train.

The younger had gotten up to briefly check over his appearance and when he came back, Phil had already rung his computer twice. Dan jumped on his bed to pick up the call and clicked the ‘accept’ button, already grinning softly.

Phil’s (rather pixelated but it was better than nothing) face appeared on Dan’s screen, and Dan made an effort to say hello despite simply wanting to stare in awe. “Hello! It’s been ages since we’ve spoken on Skype,” Dan started softly, picking his computer up to carry it over to his usual spot at the piano. “How’ve you been?”

The two boys effortlessly talked for hours about nearly everything they could think of, even if they’d previously messaged about it. Phil had gotten rather drowsy though, so he laid down in his bed with his face half covered by the blankets near the end of the call. On top of Phil preparing to fall asleep, he requested Dan starts playing the piano to make him sleepy.

Dan hardly even thought he heard Phil correctly, because he’d only played the piano once before for him and it wasn’t even good. Eventually Dan agreed and searched up sheet music to an old song he currently liked. It was soft and slow, one called Hello, Hello. Considering Phil was half-sleeping, Dan didn’t expect him to understand the words; at least, that was Dan’s logic as the temptation to start singing overpowered his thoughts.

_Hearts skip heady, you illuminate the sky_

_Somewhere steady, we hallucinate the highs_

“Dan, what is this song?”

“S’nothing, go to sleep, alright?”

_Spilling secrets, can we keep this to ourselves?_

_Little whispers, sudden shivers_

_  
And for a moment, nothing else_

_Hello, hello.._

—  
After that night, it almost became a /normal/ thing for Dan to learn new piano songs and sing them to Phil during the night, even if they weren’t Skyping. Sometimes Dan would find a new song that he thought resembled their relationship so closely and he just knew he /had/ to learn it and show him. For Phil, obviously. His kind words were mostly the only thing that made him want to continue learning music.

So, he did.

Soon enough, Dan started to look forward to playing his piano the moment he got home from school until he had to sleep, and he got so excited about being able to find new songs for Phil, too. He had a seemingly-never ending playlist worth of songs and he started to record a new one almost every night for his friend.

It was a real benefit for Phil, too. He loved waking up to a new cover of Dan’s in their message thread, tagged usually with a heart or a small note Dan wrote that explained why he did that song in particular. It made going to school a lot better, as he walked with a light heart and a smile on his face all day. Plus, seeing Dan so passionate was such an upside — Dan spoke happier to him, as if overnight. Call Phil cliché but he really thought it was a miracle.

For example, last night — Dan sent Phil a recording of a lovely song that one of Dan’s very distant friends, Dodie, from had written. He claimed it was just because he liked her and liked the song, but Phil was a bit..skeptical, to say the least.

_Would you be so kind_

_As to fall in love with me?_

_I’m trying,_

_I know you know that I like you_

_But that’s not enough..._

Needless to say, Phil felt those butterflies worse than ever when he listened to Dan’s song. Damn this boy.   
—  
So the butterflies weren’t the only thing that got worse. Dan’s song choices did, too — not in a bad way of course, simply a /lot/ more...forward. Gradually, the songs Phil received got more and more romantic and what was he even supposed to /do/ with himself at this point? He liked Dan as a friend when the songs first started, but he wasn’t so sure he could say the same now.

“Oh, by the way, you’ve got to have heard of Ed Sheeran, right?” Dan was sat as his piano with the computer mounted on the top, looking down at the keys. They’d been sitting in a comfortable silence before Dan started talking, so Dan made sure to  
keep the soft atmosphere and speak quietly. “I found a /really/ nice song of his the other day. Can I play it for you?”

The corners of Phil’s mouth upturned gradually into a proper smile and he nodded at Dan’s request. “Go for it.”

Dan started the slow song and immediately, Phil’s heartbeat slowed down. He wasn’t even surprised by the fact that it was likely something slow and sweet anymore.

_This is the start of something beautiful_

_  
This is the start of something new_

_  
You are the one who'd make me lose it all_

_  
You are the start of something new_

They both slept soundly that night.   
—  
“You saw it too?” Phil was so tired tonight, it had been an incredibly long day worth of lectures and exams and he really just wanted to /sleep/ right now, but Dan was adamant on coming onto Skype and he didn’t like letting Dan down. “I thought it was pretty good. I liked the characters and stuff.”

They were talking about the new movie that had /blown up/ as of late, Call Me by Your Name. “Yep! I went to the cinema and saw it with one of my friends from classes. It was so good! The soundtrack was especially lovely, don’t you think?”

Phil hummed in agreement, his eyelids falling shut. Dan frowned slightly, “can I play you a song?”

Phil hummed again, nodding silently as he rested his head on the pillow once again. He was out like a light as Dan started playing. Goddamnit, he was so gorgeous.

_The first time that you touched me_

_  
Oh, will wonders ever cease?_

_  
Blessed be the mystery of love.._

“I liked that song best from the whole film, you made a good choice.” Said Phil softly, his eyes shut, nearing unconsciousness.

“Me too. Sleep well. I’ll hang up, okay? I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Phil agreed by another light hum, and shortly after, the call was over.

“I love you.” It was to a black screen and Phil couldn’t hear it, but it was the thought that counted. “So, so much. I don’t know if you’ll ever find that out, but..it’s the truth, I guess. Goodnight.”   
—  
Dan yawned softly as he got out of his bed. It was Sunday morning and his family seemed to not even be home, which he didn’t mind in the least.

‘danisnotonline: hey are u able to skype rn ^o^’

‘AmazingPhil: im sorta sleepy but yea sure one minute’

Dan moved his computer to the piano, already planning on playing Phil a new song. It was one of the new ones from Jason Mraz, and the first time he heard it when he was on the train, he had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying like a baby over him and Phil. It was too perfect.

As soon as Dan heard the familiar rings come from his computer, he clicked accept and waved at his webcam. “Good morning!”

Phil let out a laugh at Dan’s cheeriness. “What makes you so happy this morning? It’s way too early to be enthusiastic about being awake.”

“Yeah, I know, but I learnt a new song last night and I sort of want to play it for you.” Phil smiled softly, rubbing his eyes.

“Go on, then.”

_Well, I won't give up on us_

_  
Even if the skies get rough_

_  
I'm giving you all my love_

_  
I'm still looking up_

Dan ended the song with a small smile on his face. “Good?”

“As always, yes. It was beautiful, now can we maybe sleep a bit longer?”   
—  
It was during Easter break that Dan snapped. He’d sung all of these goddamn love songs to Phil and he still wasn’t getting the hint? Like, /the hint/? How was somebody so damn oblivious?

He didn’t know why he woke up so frustrated over it. Maybe he had a bad dream or maybe he didn’t sleep good, but he did. Dan had hardly ever felt any spec of frustration towards his friend, so it was a bit off-putting, to say the least. He took /hours/ to muster up enough tolerance to simply say good morning (even though it was about two in the afternoon) this morning. He had no idea what had gotten into him.

On top of everything, he was planning a really sweet song to sing Phil but now, he was doubting even showing him. He was really passionate about this cover and /adored/ the song, but he didn’t want to show Phil it it’d be the same damn reaction. He wanted Phil to like him back, or even /acknowledge/ it. God, it was frustrating.

‘AmazingPhil: dannn?’

‘AmazingPhil: you’re literally never busy in the morning where are you :[‘

Dan felt a pang of guilt when Phil’s messages came through. It wasn’t Phil’s fault he was being a dick and not responding, he supposed.

‘danisnotonline: sorry i was doing work and stuff’

‘AmazingPhil: it’s break though? did i do something? are u mad at me :(‘

‘danisnotonline: it’s rather what u didn’t do but no it’s fine’

Phil gave a small groan. What had he done?

‘AmazingPhil: whats bothering you?? i promise i didn’t mean to’

‘danisnotonline: /file attached/’

Nervously, Phil clicked the file Dan had sent him. If this was something actually serious, Phil didn’t think he’d be able to take it. He’d had too good of a morning to be able to emotionally take something negative Dan wanted to throw at him-

It was...just the same setup as usual?

It was a cover.

_“Hey, Phil! There’s not much backstory to why I chose this song aside from that I really quite liked it when I first heard it so..here we are now. I hope you like it, as always!”_

Phil subconsciously held his breath, more or less preparing for the worst. What song was this?

_Ain't never felt this way_

_  
Can't get enough so stay with me_

_  
It's not like we got big plans_

_  
Let's drive around town holding hands_

Phil paused the clip.

He knew this song.

It wasn’t a popular one by any means, but this was one of his friend’s who were a couple- this was basically their anthem. The...the /couple/.

Realization dawned on Phil, and his eyes widened slightly as he thought further. Sure, he knew Dan had some sort of puppy crush on him — that’s been painfully since when they first started talking — but he didn’t know it was so relevant and important to him? Was this what Dan meant?

‘AmazingPhil: dan??’

‘AmazingPhil: it was lovely’

‘AmazingPhil: ...’

‘AmazingPhil: why won’t you respond to me :[‘

Dan sucked in a short breath as his fingers hovered above his keyboard. Had he really just done that?

‘AmazingPhil: im going to skype you, you better pick up’

True to his word, Dan’s computer started ringing moments later. Hesitantly he pressed the accept button, and immediately half-shut his computer lid. He didn’t want to see Phil right now, nor did he want Phil to see him. “What do you need?”

“Dan…” Phil said softly. “Open your computer. Can’t I see you?”

Dan hummed stubbornly. “No. Is there anything you need?”

Phil sighed. “I loved the song, if it makes any of a difference. I knew it, for once.” He giggled softly, trying to brighten the mood, at least a bit.

“You..did?”

“Yeah! Two of my friends are both in love with that song. It’s like their relationship anthem. It’s kind of cute.”

Dan’s heart stopped in his chest. “W-what?”

“Yeah, Chris and PJ. Have I ever talked about them?”

“No.”

“They’re dating and they love that song. I like it too, I’m glad you chose to do it.” Phil was definitely trying to prompt Dan to talk about why he chose it, meanwhile staying as subtle as he could.

Dan paused. “I’m glad, I guess.”

“Why’d you choose it?”

Dan paused again. “Why are you doing this?” He exhaled softly, closing his eyes. He just wanted this over with.

“M’not doing anything, I’m just asking! Why’d you choose that song?”

“Because it’s nice and I like it.”

“Is that all?”

“I don’t know, is it?”

“You’re so difficult, Dan.”

“Maybe because I like you too, but whatever.”

Both boys paused. Phil had a knowing smile on his face, and his heart swelled with pride and happiness. “Well, maybe I like you too. Did you never think about that?”   
  
“Not really.”

“Well, maybe you should.”

Dan bit on his lip, trying to suppress the growing smile on his face. “Maybe I should, then?”

“Definitely. Sing for me?”

Dan slowly brought his hand up to his computer lid and pushed it up, fixing his hair curly to the side of his face, making sure he looked semi-decent. “What song, then?”

“What about the new one?”

Wordlessly, Dan nodded and brought his hands down to the keyboard. He kept breaking out in a wide smile, unable to contain his composure long enough to start to sing. Soon enough, he started the new song, a warm-feeling bubbling low in his chest.

_Oh, my heart hurts so good_

  
_I love you, babe, so bad, so bad_

  
_Oh, oh my heart hurts so good_

  
_I love you, babe, so bad, so bad_

As Dan finished the song, he brought his hands down back to his lap, looking to Phil for approval.

“Beautiful. It’s such a gorgeous song.”

Dan nodded. The song had taken on a whole new meaning and even though, sure, they weren’t ‘together’ together, but it was good enough, at least for now.

Until they met, of course (which was definitely happening); that was a whole different story that had yet to be written. 


End file.
